


Never Had It Like This

by rivlee



Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, F/F, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-14
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-25 11:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/638341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivlee/pseuds/rivlee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chadara is taking to this new life slower than the others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Had It Like This

**Author's Note:**

> For an unfinished Canon!AU where Auctus, after losing to Crixus, ended up in Chadara and Nasir’s villa.

Chadara never had much experience with barbarians from East of the Rhine in her life. She had spent most years in the villa, the roughest people she met being the slaves who worked the land. She was kept in the house like all others meant to be delicate decorations for their dominus. She knew how to smile, to flirt, to seem the most innocent and lively of creatures even as light dimmed around her. Chadara learned young that survival came with a blank mind as grubby hands pawed at her body. She learned to pretend to enjoy the company of men she despised. Things changed when the Greek came to their house. Protection was not earned by spreading her legs but by tending to a pigeon flock. The only cost was her company, not sex, just conversation. Auctus filled her head with ideas of life in Capua and tales of beautiful men and gorgeous women; of life beyond their country estate; of the teasing taste of freedom. 

She never expected freedom to come to her. It was an ideal foreign to all born and raised as slaves. No matter how quick witted, intelligent, or charming she was, she knew that once old age withered the beauty that made her prized by dominus, she would be carted off to the next home. Then the rebels came, storming into their house, leaving trails of blood and bits of brain, as they searched for one slave. She thought they sought her death too, that they must’ve gotten to Auctus since he wasn’t there to protect her or Nasir, but then she heard his angry growl as the walls shook as bodies slammed against them. 

Life, once nothing but a bland routine occasionally brightened by trips into the city, changed rapidly in a short time. Each day could honestly be their last; time felt both fleeting and forever from dawn to dusk. Chadara struggled with _choice_. She worried over losing the softness in her hands; the roundness to her face; everything that she thought made her beautiful. It was Auctus who found her when the shadows crept into her heart. He stroked her hair and sang Grecian lullabies in her ear, far from the prying eyes of those she once thought below her. 

She still felt lonely here, among the rebels, in a way she never had before. Auctus was distracted by old friends and new grief for love long gone. Nasir had his own distractions in his training, in his new love, a lightened smile on his face and an ease to his manner that never existed before. Though she found some of Agron’s manners crude, even with his form, she would forgive him much for the contentment his small smiles placed in Nasir’s eyes. 

It was a quiet life, this new turn, and stable in its own way once they left the forest for the temple. Chadara stayed for Auctus, who had lost too much in life to lose another of his flock, and for Nasir, who still needed a friend from old on occasion. Old doubts and fears never truly faded, only hid deep within the recesses of the mind. Chadara found her place in helping him ease through that; she was good at listening, at letting others see her as nothing but a foolish girl while she learned all their secrets. She would never turn on Nasir, not one who had enough to destroy her. Their friendship had not come easily; nor would its demise. So they continued in their comfortable ways with each other, still clinging to Auctus’ side most nights at evening meal. It was a good a routine. 

Then Agron’s kin came; a whole ship of liberated slaves taken from East of the Rhine. They were all fair skinned and burnt by the sun yet full of life. They brought noise, always speaking in yells and growls, in laughter and exuberance. Even when they fought, blood from broken noses and busted lips soaked up by the sand, they did it with a joy Chadara had never witnessed. 

There were many women among them of varying beauty and strength. Saxa stood out amongst them all. She was fierce, a veritable lioness of messy blonde hair and bared teeth. She did not know restraint, though she responded to discipline when it suited her. Chadara watched her train, hidden within the shadows of the temple’s columns. She danced as she fought, each move deliberate, beautiful while covered in sand, blood, and bruises. 

It was Nasir’s turn to taunt her as Chadara found herself distracted by the wide smile and taut muscles of Saxa. She was fascinated by those hands, grime embedded under the fingernails, with their calluses and cuts, always clutching to knife or sharpening rock. Others thought Mira to be Artemis on earth, but when Chadara looked at Saxa, she felt as if she stood in the presence of Otrera. Chadara once thought to seek advancement by sleeping with Rhaskos, a man whose smell turned her very stomach. Auctus had told her the choice was hers, that she would stand protected among them regardless, and so she had turned from Rhaskos. Now desire stirred willingly; Saxa, with each twist of her hips and turn of her head, each loud laugh and quirk of her lips, made Chadara _want_. 

She didn’t have the words to approach her. Their tongue far from Latin, farther from Greek, and Chadara struggled to match words with actions. She knew Saxa must’ve understood some Latin, but Chadara could not gauge how much. She did not know how to seduce without paying compliments in a honeyed tongue. She did not want her actions to be misunderstood. She was at a loss for how to proceed. Until Auctus intervened. 

Duro was the brother of Agron, less fierce in manner, and with less tangible power than his brother among the rebels. Many called him friend and he was one of the few who could intervene between Crixus and Agron before it went to blood. He came to her with a sweet smile and kind eyes. He whispered a phrase in her ear, in a manner that made Auctus frown, even as Duro quietly laughed, hiding his face in Chadara’s hair.

“It is as simple as that?” she asked. 

Duro nodded. 

“What if I stumble the wording?” Chadara asked.

Duro laughed loudly this time. “She is far from disinclined, Chadara. It will be enough.”

She took a deep breath and nodded. Her hands trembled as they went to her hair. “Up or down?” she asked Auctus. 

“Down,” he said as he tugged out her hair pin. Soft fingers carded through the strands and settled them around her face. He re-tied one of the straps on her dress and nodded. “Always so beautiful.” He patted her cheek. “Even more so with that smile, too absent these past days. Let us see it forever on your face.”

Chadara hugged him fast before her nerves gave out. She took a deep breath, barely noticing the comforting hand Auctus placed on her back, and took a step forward.

It was time to finally start down her own new path.


End file.
